2025 in Review: Our Team's Top Picks

Speaker A: Welcome to youo Belong in the C Suite podcast.

Speaker B: You are ambitious in life and in your career, but something is missing. You want to bring more of your passion to what you do because, let's be honest, you pour a ton into

Speaker A: your work and it needs to mean more. I'm your host, Laura Igel. I'm a mom, wife, PhD coach, advocate,

Speaker B: introvert, and indoor rowing fanatic. I'm passionate about living a life that's in line with my values. We'll give you the actionable tips and

Speaker A: tools you need to lead with your values, make a difference, and have career success.

Speaker B: The world needs more diversity and authenticity in the top jobs at organizations. Your leadership belongs there. You belong in the C Suite. My second book, Values First Teams how to Build a Culture that's Synchronized for Success launches on May 20. Miscommunication, misalignment. Missed deadlines. Every leader knows the frustration of a team that feels more like a tug of war than a unified force. And in today's whirlwind of deadlines and demands, it's easy to lose sight of the why behind the work, leaving your team feeling disconnected and disengaged. In Values First Teams, I'm sharing my proven framework for building an engaging team culture where shared values create stronger results and individual efforts harmonize to achieve a powerful collective momentum. It's more than just a leadership book. Values First Teams is a guide for building a workplace where everyone is aligned, engaged and rowing in the Same Direction. Values First Teams launches on May 20, 2025. Learn more at theketchgroup.com valuesfirstteams.

Speaker C: Hello and uh, welcome to our special end of the season episode. My name is Tina Chen and I'm the content coordinator for the Catch Group. Our regular host, Laura Igle, is currently focusing on her family, one of her main core values. While she's taking this time, we wanted to highlight four episodes that resonated most with you, our listeners. In this episode, I'll walk you through each clip and then provide a key takeaway. From my perspective, our producer Samantha has selected the moments you're about to hear. Let's dig in. Episode 185, aligning uh, personal Values for Career Impact with Wendy Gonzalez. In this conversation, Wendy Gonzalez, the CEO of sama, shares how aligning personal values with professional life can be both liberating and challenging. She walks us through how merging her experiences from consulting to product development to leadership, helps her define what truly matters while also carrying the responsibility of leading a mission driven global business. In this clip, you'll hear Wende, reflect on how living and working from a values aligned perspective shapes company culture and drives engagement.

Speaker A: So as you shifted from your, and used your personal values to shift your career, what was that like for you personally in terms of the impact you make, your own fulfillment, the needs of your family? Like, walk me through that, the kind of pivotal moment where you said, hey, can't this really be aligned? And should it be? And what was that like and what does it continue to be like as you're um, as you're tackling all these things now?

Speaker D: It's so interesting the way you ask that question because, uh, not often do people talk, you know, ask, ask that. So I think first of all it's a great question, uh, but it's very interesting. Like one of my philosophies and leadership and hiring and diversity is that of course, you know, you, you, you have, you have a degree, you've got work experience and all those things, but I think it's kind of difficult to, you know, be one person in the rest of your life and then be somebody different at work. Right. We're all a culmination, in other words, of our experiences. Right?

Speaker E: Yeah.

Speaker D: Whether for me as a daughter, sister, you, you name it. Like, we all have these different experiences. Just like, you know, I came from a consulting background, which is different. And then I did product and I did, you know, so all these are, are kind of the things that we can bring to the table. And so this idea that I could converge and say, wow, these are things I really believe pretty deeply in on a personal level, but then also I can combine them with work was, was, was both incredibly liberating to be able to go like, wow, like I can kind of not quite wear my heart on my sleep, but like I can, I can sort of come to this with all of these views and align them. But it's also made it probably one of the most difficult jobs I've ever had. As well as I probably felt, um, more pre, I don't wanna say pressure or responsibility by far than any job I've ever had. It's like, okay, we're trying to do, you know, this is a very difficult thing to run a double bottom line business, triple bottom line, because we have sustainability goals too. But it's, it's difficult to do that when there are lots of forces that sometimes could both compete and conflict. Right. Um, so, uh, yeah, it's been, it's been really interesting. But I would say from a value standpoint, I think it's, it's really Interesting. It's definitely led ah, to I think, a culture where I'm guessing if you probably talk to anybody who works at our company, most people like to travel. They're usually pretty interested in, you know, adventure. Right? Because we work, we're a global company. You know, they're like, oh yeah, working in Africa be super cool, right? And so sometimes what we do and, and the values also, uh, uh, drive, uh, you know, a culture, culture as well.

Speaker E: So.

Speaker C: Hearing Wendy talk about bringing your whole self to work really resonated with me. Even though I don't lead a team personally, I realized how much my own energy, my own enthusiasm and being authentic, whether in my work or teaching a fitness class, can influence the people around me and make the environment more engaging and positive. From, um, personal values, Shaping a company to Leadership by example. Our next clip highlights how leaders can empower their teams and model the behaviors they want to see. Episode 187, the Power of Leadership by Example with Kamya Elawadi. Kamya Elawadi, the chief client officer and founder of Dockery, shares her journey building a company during the pandemic, growing revenue globally and fostering a diverse, inclusive workplace. She talks about leadership by example, delegation and powering her team.

Speaker A: You, um, through some of your answers, I am guessing about a couple of the things that seem important to you, but I'd love to hear if this is right at all and then for you to just tell me. But it sounds like almost this idea of, um, some freedom, some autonomy, some adventure, growth, mindset, continuous improvement or continuous learning. Like those all sound like important things to you based on how you've described just yourself and just the last couple of minutes that we've been talking. But tell me more. Is that is, is am I close or what are some of your core values and how, how do you think that that has, um, you've been able to accomplish that in your, you know, in the building of um, the company?

Speaker F: Absolutely. I think you're very, very close. I um, think communication and adaptability is, is one thing that I feel is one of the core value that I follow. Um, wherever you know, there is good communication, there's less chances of failure because you always, there is always strength in everybody. You just need to identify that strength area within the team, within the individuals, within myself. And that can only, ah, come out. You're not thinking it, um, you know, passively. That can only come out in an engaging, conversation, interactive way so that you pick up those things that are good for you, that are strength areas for you and you harness from there. You harness from that strength area and try to you know further find out things that that complements your strength areas that just help you go a long way.

Speaker C: This clip made me think about how I contribute to a team dynamic. Kamiya's focus on communication and recognizing others strengths reminded me that I can help others shine just by listening, connecting and bringing energy to our space. Next, we dive into a listener favor on protecting your time and empowering others. Lessons that aren't just for leaders, but for anyone who works closely with a team. Episode 188 listener favorite protect your time Empower your team in this solo episode, Laura dives into common leadership traps, doing too much yourself, shielding your team and solving problems instead of coaching. This episode gives practical tips on protecting your time while empowering others.

Speaker B: So in the first trap, you're doing most of the work because you know how and it's faster for you too. In the second trap, you're intentionally doing more work because you don't want to overburden your team. Now let's get to the third trap. Trap number three, you are delegating, but not really. You are still inserting yourself by telling them solution. You're still fixing it and you are not empowering or coaching them. This one may be the hardest trap to not fall into. You are their manager or leader. They come to you to solve problems, right? When they tell you about an issue, it's because they need your opinion, right? Well, maybe not. They've raised an issue, but what's your job as their leader? Is it to fix it or is it to create space for them to solve the problem? I think it is the latter. You can still help them fix it, but not by telling them the solution. Not by giving them this the answer. I want you to help them by asking them questions. I want you to do it through coaching them. So here's what the perception might be from others. You know, you might be quick to solution. You jump into help and then sometimes, and not surprisingly, you might get pretty quick into the details because you're in solution mode and you're doing this in in one on ones. So you potentially may not get all the topics covered that your direct report needs to cover because you're in brainstorming mode on all the things you're trying to help them fix. I had a client who received similar feedback to this, um, from a few of her direct reports. I asked her how much of the time she was talking in a one on one with her direct reports. She said that you know, it's at least half and half. But sometimes she ends up talking more because she's explaining her teaching. So she decided to focus on active listening and asking questions instead of being the one to solve the problems. So after a few weeks she came back to me in a coaching session excited to give me updates on her progress. She said, laura, you will not believe it. After my one on ones, I don't have a million to do's, I didn't realize how much I was solutioning and then taking on the work myself. Now instead it's their plan and I can check in with them on progress. They are empowered and they're learning and I'm not stuck with all the action items. Why haven't I been doing this this whole time? Funny how when we are the the ones with the solutions and sometimes we take on the work, right? So instead of fixing, here's what I want you to do instead. I want you to lead through coaching. I want you to create the space for them to figure it out. And how can you do this? By asking open ended questions and by practicing active listening. When a problem arises, instead of jumping to solution, ask a question. Here are a few examples of questions. Um, what do you think the next step should be to take? What factors are important to consider in figuring out a solution? What's most important for the client? What's most important for your team? What have you tried so far? How has that worked? Then stop talking and actively listen to what they say and probe a little bit deeper. After they give you some of their answers, say something like, hey, tell me more about that idea or why are you concerned about that? Or what else could work here? Within the discussion, they should be talking the majority of the time. You should be listening and asking questions. You can also start providing some feedback after they've worked through some of the solutions. And I will tell you, this is hard to do because it is ingrained into you to go into problem solving and fixing first, but do not fall into that trap.

Speaker C: Laura's advice really clicked with me because it's not just about doing it all myself. I realized that uh, in my own work and in teaching, I can step back a little, ask some questions and encourage others to find their own solutions, which actually makes the experience more dynamic and fun for everyone involved. Finally, we wrap up with insights from Laura's new book, Values First Teams and how understanding personal and team values can transform the way you connect and collaborate. Episode 190 values first teams. In this episode, Laura is interviewed by her author story, coach and entrepreneur Lauren Marie Fleming, about her journey from the C suite to becoming a coach and author and how her experiences shaped her new book, Values First Teams. They discuss how personal values connect with team and organizational culture. And Laura shares practical exercises for fostering alignment and a meaningful connection.

Speaker E: I was personally shocked when I did the, the Values first. You know, beginning where you, you align your values and see about how you are aligning with the values. And I was feeling great. I was like, I'm good, I know my values. I just spent two years working as Tony Robbins right hand person in like personal development world and I knew all the content, I did all the things and I was shocked at how what I would have said was my value was not my actual value. There was like a, ah, value under the value and working on, on Values first and understanding really clarity on that made a big difference in how I then went off and ran my business and worked with my clients and existed in my life. So I think that that clarity and then the action steps are so easy. Um, you know, I think that that's one of the things that's great about Values first is there's a lot out there that talks about values alignment, but I don't think there's as much that actually show you how to do it and how to be clear on it and how to set boundaries on it as this book, which is why I love it so much. So then tell me about how it affects teams differently than the individuals. So Values First I think of, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think of Values first is like this is for the individual to think about their whole life, especially their professional life, but kind of their whole life. And teams to me feels like this is how we as a team align ourselves with values. So how does that differ from the individual?

Speaker A: Yeah, uh, I think you're absolutely right. So I'll build on that. So as I think about the Values first framework and I'll kind of just take you back on like why I even decided to write this second book. It's because I started, you know, I started using the Values first framework at ah, the individual level. Right. Like you said, at uh, their, your personal level and absolutely is applicable a lot at work, but also outside of work. And then as I continued using it with some of these individuals that I coach. And uh, a lot of these are leaders of teams, like big teams, sometimes CEOs, sometimes in the C suite. Maybe they're leading a whole department, maybe they're leading a team within a Department, but generally a lot of them are leaders. And so they want to bring this, these tools to their team. Right? And so within that construct, we started using these in um, ah, team development. And so I would work with a leader, um, that I was already coaching. Like they had already been through the, the framework in the first book. And then we would bring it in an exercise to their team. Like think of like an off site or a team department meeting, something like that. So I would come in and I would facilitate basically a session where each individual is still doing their individual values. But then, hey, guess what, let's talk about them. Let's build some team connection. And oh my goodness, Lauren. The conversations at this like, simple, uh, exercise, like just lit up a room and I would have to like, you know, stop these really great conversations to move on to the next thing because like the, the conversations were just so meaty. And it was things like, oh, wow, we have the same value in common. But I, I define it this way. How do you define it? And oh, uh, it's so interesting that you use this word. This means this. And I, you know, so, so many different connections. And then like, interesting thing enough. Uh, where else are values? Well, values are an, are part of lots of things also in organizations. Often organizations have their organizational like, imperatives or their organizational culture spelled out, or they have organizational values. And so then the next thing that we started talking about, which is an exercise in the book, um, Values First Teams, is the organizational kind of overlap between your values and the organization's values. And we talked about that a lot of, and a lot of the consensus was, hey, the values are, are there. I don't really know what they mean though. Like, kind of this idea of there are these aspirational kind of things that like we put on the company website and we put on the wall and we put on, you know, cool swag. And maybe it's like on your screensaver or on your badge and. But people really don't know them. They didn't really connect with them, but they were connecting in that room with the people. Right? And so what the, uh, concept behind values versus Teams is really to connect all of them together. People make up an organization. They are the people in the organization. You cannot have it without the people. Right? And I want to have a connection to the company as an individual, want to have the. Where, where do I fit? Like, how do I connect? And so I think values as a, just as an idea, it can exist at lots of different levels. So basically I use the values first framework to kind of connect all of these things. So at the leader level, you still have your personal values that are, uh, you use inside and outside of work. You still have organizational values that you, you know, any organization that you belong to probably has values. And then what I built kind of in the middle is this idea of, uh, kind of a way to connect it all in team values. And so the idea was really about, hey, how do I make the company values real to this team? And you do that by kind of connecting them together, but really connecting them with who's in the room too.

Speaker C: The discussion about the Values First Teams book made me reflect on how my own energy and values connect with with the groups that I am part of. I can contribute to a team's alignment and culture by being present, authentic and intentional about the energy I bring. And that ends our 2025 in review. Our team's top pick episodes from aligning personal values to contributing energy and teams, fostering communication and connecting personal and organizational values, these moments reflect the heart of you Belong in the C Suite Podcast on um Behalf of Laura Samantha, the production team, thank you for listening, learning and growing with us this season. Laura will be back to lead season six with new conversations and strategies to help you lead with clarity and confidence. Until then, remember you belong the C Suite. I'm Tina Chen. Um, thanks for listening and we'll see you next season.

Speaker B: I want to thank you so much for listening to the you Belong in the C Suite podcast. If you are enjoying this content, please remember to rate and review on Apple Podcasts. By leaving a review, you are helping others find this content. We will be featuring five star reviews on air in upcoming episodes. Editing and support for the podcast is done by S and E Podcast Management. To get more tips and tools to help you live a life guided by your values, go to TheCatchGroup.com keep your boundaries and take care of SA.